Overheard: Chiefs begin second week of OTAs

An assortment of player quotes from Tuesday’s open locker room media session

The Kansas City Chiefs began their second week of Organized Team Activities (OTAs) on Tuesday. Players hit the field at the Chiefs Training Facility for an hour-and-a-half practice featuring positional drills and scrimmages.

Another Jonathan Baldwin circus catch highlighted today’s drills. After practice, players talked about Baldwin’s latest catch and more when they met with the media:

Wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin on how his one-handed touchdown grab compared to last season’s catch against Denver which was called back:

“They were both pretty good catches, but you’ve got to move on now and get ready for the next day. We always want to go make the play. I just want to make every play that I possibly can and I was fortunate to make that play today.”

Cornerback Stanford Routt on keeping his head up after covering Baldwin during that play:

“It happens. I wouldn’t like to see that happen twenty more times in a row, but I’m not worried about it at all. It’s football. Sometimes you make a play, and sometimes he does. “

“He’s a guy that likes to go up and compete. Again, he’s a big body. This kid is all of 6-4 and he can jump. He’s a guy that’s going to go out and compete. There are not a lot of players that can go up vertically with him and stay with him.”

Running back Jammal Charles on making sure he doesn’t lose his speed while he recovers from last season’s ACL injury:

“I feel faster (than last season). I go out there and do activities with my team and everything. I try to run my hardest and I try to finish first every time we go out there and do our conditioning workouts. It’s showing improvement every week.”

Cornerback Javier Arenas on mentoring fellow Alabama defensive back and current Chiefs rookie De’Quan Menzie on and off the field:

“At Alabama, they take you through each step and tell you how to do this and how to do that. They’re not holding your hand here. You’re a professional—that’s the difference. This is grown-ups league. (On the field) I can convert the defense for him as it relates to ‘Bama. He knows the playbook from down there, and I can translate the playbook for him until he’s comfortable.”

Tight end Martin Rucker on using OTAs as an audition to crack the Chiefs’ roster:

“It’s what I do every single day. I try to learn that playbook just a little bit better. I try to perfect my technique just a little bit better. When we go out on the field, I try to show up on film just a little bit better than I did the day before and continue to hack away at that.”

Quarterback Ricky Stanzi on taking the majority of the second-team reps during Tuesday’s practice:

“I think the reps aren’t really a huge deal right now. We’re switching on and off with the twos and the threes. The way the reps are cut up, it just happened to fall that way. You can talk about it a lot but it’s nice to actually go out there and rep it out and see some different situations come up and different plays that can be called. You can learn a lot by putting it on tape.”

Running back Peyton Hills on learning about how close-knit the Chiefs are during these OTAs:

“Out of all the teams I’ve been on, this is the team to me that is most-closely combined just because everybody knows each other at some point, everything has come together, everybody’s from the same branch, same tree – Coach (Brian) Daboll, Coach (Romeo) Crennel, Scott Pioli, everybody’s from the same tree. When that leaks down, and we all know how big of a leader Coach Crennel is, we’re really rallying behind that and hoping that good things happen.”

“Boss has been a good teammate so far. We get along great, and we go over little details like routes and blocking. The more tight ends on the field the better. Having multiple tight ends on the field is good for balance. Every team you see is using multiple tight ends. Hopefully, me and Boss can contribute to that.”

Cassel on prospective two-tight end sets featuring Boss and Moeaki :

“The tight end position is critical in every offense, especially in ours, not only in the run game, but also in the pass game. You can create mismatches with those guys, we’ve got a great competition going on with those guys right now. It’ll also be good to get Tony back when he comes back and is ready to go as well.”